Ten reasons that led to communal riots in Muzaffarnagar

Dailybhaskar.com

Sep 09, 2013, 03:14 AM IST

uttar pradesh news in English

Muzaffarnagar (Uttar Pradesh): The Army on Sunday staged a flag march in riot-hit areas of the district where the toll in clashes between members of two communities rose to 26 even as 30 persons have been arrested for the violence.

Curfew remained in force in Civil Lines, Kotwali and Nai Mandi areas of the district with Army carrying out a flag march in the troubled areas.

Five companies of the PAC and as many of RAF and police have also been deployed.

"Twenty six people have been killed in the clashes and the toll is expected to rise as some people are missing. The police is searching for them," District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said.

Here are the 10 reasons that led to the communal unrest:

1. The clash occurred over the alleged incident of eve teasing. The situation started deteriorating since August 27, when two youths of the Jat community were beaten to death in Kawaal village, under Jaansath tehsil of Muzaffarnagar. One youth from the minority community was also killed in the clash.

2. In order to protest the incident, the Jat community organized a 'panchayat' at Jaansath town on August 31.

The panchayat demanded action against the culprits responsible for the murder of the two Jat youths. The panchayat also demanded the removal of the Superintendent of Police of Shamli district for his allegedly partisan conduct.

3. The Khap panchayat then announced to organize a 'Bahu Beti Samaan Bachaoi Mahapanchyat' on September 7, at Nagla Mandaur, if their demands were not met.

The panchayat was organized by the Jat community at Nagla Mandaur, 20 km from Muzaffarnagar city, where over 1.5 lakh people from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi participated.

5. Those going to participate in the 'mahapanchyat' were allegedly attacked and fired upon at Basee village on Saturday.

6. The district administration allegedly failed to take measures to prevent the people from Haryana and Delhi from reaching the venue of the 'mahapanchayat'.

7. On September 5, the BJP had also given a call for Muzaffarnagar bandh.

8. The situation worsened on Saturday following incidents of firing, stone pelting and violence in which IBN7 journalist Rajesh Verma and a part-time photographer of the state police, Israr, were killed.

9. One of the inception points for the violence is a video posted online that wrongly claims to show two men being lynched by a mob in the state.

At a press conference on Sunday, Home Secretary Kamal Saxena said that the "fake video", posted on YouTube and other social networks, was at least two years old and appears not to have been filmed in Uttar Pradesh.

10. The video claims to capture the killing in a village named Kawal on August 27.